Ever since she left Last Man Standing, comedic actress Kaitlyn Dever has been in high demand. The actress starred in Netflix’s Unbelievable and we recently learned she’s putting together a brand new series called Monsterland. However, the latest report has her headlining an even bigger project – at least for the musical theater crowd. Kaitlyn Dever is currently in talks to star in Dear Evan Hansen. She’s not the only one either.
While Dear Evan Hansen’s official casting isn’t confirmed as of yet, the big screen adaptation could star both Kaitlyn Dever and Ben Platt. Platt actually starred in the stage version of the hit production and would be reprising his role as the titular Evan Hansen. If Dever were to sign on, the guess is that she would play Zoe Murphy.
Dear Evan Hansen is set in a high school in which the main character ends up connected to a character, Connor, who later commits suicide. Hansen is awkward and anxious, with few friends, and ends up fabricating a relationship with the deceased Connor in order to fit into his family, which includes his sister Zoe. The Broadway musical was a big smash success a few years ago and took home several Tony Awards.
The big screen version is expected to be directed by Stephen Chbosky and Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who created the musical, would be involved with music and lyrics. Steve Levenson, who was also involved in the musical, will write the script, per Deadline.
As for Kaitlyn Dever, the actress has been slowly shedding her teen persona on TV and film in recent years. In Booksmart her character heads off to college and in Last Man Standing she graduated from the Baxter home into the Air Force Academy. She’s 23 in real life, so it makes sense she wouldn’t be playing a high school aged student as often anymore.
Meanwhile, Ben Platt is now 26 and sort of aging out of high school roles as well, so we’ll have to wait and see if this casting happens exactly as it seems to be lining up at this point.
If it does move forward, Dear Evan Hansen would be the next in a wave of musicals heading to the big screen. There’s the Disney+ Hamilton taping – which is more of a live theatrical event. Then In The Heights is also being made into a movie and recently had to postpone its release due to global events.
As for Kaitlyn Dever, the actress still strives to pop up in Last Man Standing when she can and did appear in a few 2020 episodes of the longtime comedy. Meanwhile, she has the aforementioned Platform and Monsterland coming up and she also recently signed on with the guys who did The Peanut Butter Falcon, Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz, to star in The Wildest Animals in Griffith Park. That would be another half-hour sitcom about secretly living in LA’s famous park.
